Our city is better than this!
Come on, guys, leave it the way you found it! Floatopia, the annual Memorial Day event on Chic's Beach, left behind 10 tons of trash for cleaning crews to handle – (I repeat ... 10 tons of trash).
While previous years' events have left the beach dirty, it's never been nearly this bad. The trash along the beach included everything you could possibly think of: food wrappers, cans, bottles, pieces of floats, towels, plastic bags, and much more. Locals expressed that they could not tell where the beach began and ended because of the volume of debris.
Clean-up crews from Public Works began working at 6 a.m. to take care of the mess and had the beach sparkling by around 9 a.m.
Here is a video of the aftermath ...
Courtesy of Melissa Noel
Floatopia is an annual event on Chic's Beach, where participants bring their own floats and beer and then jam out to music with other area residents. The event celebrates the unofficial beginning of summer.
Local councilmen Michael F. Berlucchi expressed his disappointment:
I was disappointed to wake up this morning to see images trash all over our beautiful Chesapeake Bay beach after Sunday’s festivities. We can do better than this! Let’s work together to keep our City beautiful. #VirginiaBeach #chesapeakebay #savethebay pic.twitter.com/3zFEyv56kR
— Michael F. Berlucchi (@mfberlucchi) May 27, 2019
Other locals joined in with their opinions on the aftermath.
Y’all really went to floatopia and left our beaches like this? Shame on you. pic.twitter.com/p1EeHYBth5
— Sierra Taylor (@Sierrantaylor) May 27, 2019
GUYS. 10 TONS of trash was collected this morning after Floatopia. Don't preach on social media about the downfall of the environment while contributing to it.
— Madison (@MaddyPearmanTV) May 27, 2019
Do. Better. https://t.co/VfzkChUh6U
It seems that trash was not the only issue of the event ...
Hey @VBPD how about getting a handle on this next year ?? Drunks/illegal parking everywhere...Floatopia...locals can't even enjoy the beach...Ocean Park/Lesner Bridge pic.twitter.com/f8dtA7DMEJ
— Jeannie Kartis (@jeannie_kartis) May 26, 2019
Floatopia is one of the many summer events that leaves a "first impression" on tourists. Obviously, this is not a good look for us. Tourists want clean places to stay when traveling and don't plan to vacation in piles of trash.
However, recent events such as the Something in the Water concert left the beach immaculate and in good condition for locals to roam. See the comparison between the two events below.
Courtesy of Paul Holley
It is fair to say that if the attendees to the Something in the Water concert can take care of our beach, we should be able to ask the same for other event attendees. If you visit the beach, please clean up after yourself and leave the beach how you found it.
What are your thoughts of the aftermath? Do you think the attendees should have gone back and cleaned up the mess? Do you think this event should continue? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
